The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant religious orders of the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi, these orders include three independent orders for men, orders for nuns such as the Order of Saint Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis open to male and female members. They adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of the founder and of his main associates and followers, such as Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Elizabeth of Hungary. Several smaller Protestant Franciscan orders or other groups have been established since late 1800's as well, particularly in the Anglican and Lutheran traditions.
Maximilian Maria Kolbe was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II. He had been active in promoting the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, founding and supervising the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw, operating an amateur-radio station (SP3RN), and founding or running several other organizations and publications.
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three "First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant, the other being the Conventuals (OFMConv). Franciscans reformed as Capuchins in 1525 with the purpose of regaining the original Habit (tunic) of St. Francis of Assisi and also for returning to a stricter observance of the rule established by Francis of Assisi in 1209.
The Fraticelli or Spiritual Franciscans opposed changes to the rule of Saint Francis of Assisi, especially with regard to poverty, and regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous, and that of individual churchmen as invalidating their status. The Fraticelli were declared heretical in 1296 by Boniface VIII.
Pio of Pietrelcina, widely known as Padre Pio, was an Italian Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, celebrated on 23 September.
Joseph of Cupertino (Copertino), OFM Conv. (Italian: Giuseppe da Copertino; 17 June 1603 – 18 September 1663) was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar who is honored as a Christian mystic and saint. According to traditional Franciscan accounts, he was "remarkably unclever", but experienced miraculous levitation and ecstatic visions throughout his life which made him the object of scorn. He applied to the Conventual Franciscan friars, but was rejected due to his lack of education. He then pleaded with them to serve in their stables. After several years of working there, he had impressed the friars so much with the devotion and simplicity of his life that he was admitted to their Order, destined to become a Catholic priest, in 1625.
The Order of Friars Minor Conventual is a male religious fraternity in the Catholic Church and a branch of the Franciscan Order. Conventual Franciscan Friars are identified by the affix O.F.M. Conv. after their names. They are also known as Conventual Franciscans or Minorites.
Peter of Alcántara, OFM was a Spanish Franciscan friar who was canonized in 1669.
The Secular Franciscan Order is the third branch of the Franciscan Family formed by Catholic men and women who seek to observe the Gospel of Jesus by following the example of Francis of Assisi. Secular Franciscans are not like the other third orders, since they are not under the higher direction of the same institute. Brothers and sisters of the Secular Franciscan Order make a spiritual commitment (promises) to their own Rule, and Secular Franciscan fraternities can not exist without the assistance of the first or second Franciscan Orders. The Secular Franciscan Order was the third of the three families founded by Francis of Assisi 800 years ago.
Stathis Giallelis is a retired Greek actor. He won brief international renown in the early 1960s as the star of Elia Kazan's Academy Award-nominated epic America America, a role which brought him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor, as well as a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
Francis Anthony Fasani was an Italian friar of the Order of Conventual Friars Minor who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
The Shrine of St. Anthony is a Roman Catholic shrine honoring St. Anthony of Padua. The shrine is located within the St. Joseph Cupertino Friary in Ellicott City, Maryland, USA. The shrine is a ministry of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Our Lady of the Angels Province, USA.
Joseph Petracca was an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and television writer of Italian descent. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Petracca moved to Los Angeles after the end of World War II and worked a series of full-time jobs, mainly as a steam press operator for a laundry and linen rental service, while he pursued his writing in the evenings and began raising a family with his wife Lena. In the early fifties Petracca began publishing fiction in the popular magazines of the day. Throughout the fifties Petracca wrote and collaborated on numerous films for such studios as 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures and in the sixties wrote episodes for such television shows as The Untouchables, Rawhide and Route 66. Petracca is survived by a daughter, Frances Petracca, a neuroscientist and AIDS researcher, and a son, novelist and university Lecturer Emeritus Michael Petracca.
Gregory John Hartmayer, O.F.M. Conv. is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A Conventual Friar Minor, he serves as the Archbishop of Atlanta in Georgia, having returned to the archdiocese where he worked from 1995 to 2011. From 2011 to 2020, Hartmayer served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Savannah in Georgia.
Francesco Zirano, OFM Conv. was a Roman Catholic priest from Sardinia and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. He is recognized as a martyr in the Catholic Church. Born and raised in Sardinia, he became an ordained priest in 1586. When Barbary pirates abducted and enslaved his cousin, Zirano raised funds over the course of several years to pay the ransom for his cousin's freedom. He traveled to Algiers in 1602 and helped four Christian slaves escape to freedom, but soldiers later targeted and imprisoned him. The Grand Council of Algiers sentenced him to death for his role in helping the slaves escape and for being a spy for the city's enemies, but his captors offered to spare his life if he would convert to Islam. He refused, and they executed him by flaying.
San Francesco d'Assisi is a 16th-century-style church dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi, located in Alcamo, province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy.
Edoardo Giuseppe Rosaz was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Susa from 1877 until his death and was the founder of the Franciscan Mission Sisters of Susa. He was appointed a bishop at the suggestion of John Bosco. His apostolic zeal became even greater as a bishop when he tended to abandoned people in the peripheries and encouraged the work of a range of different religious orders.
Padre Pio: Miracle Man is a 2000 Italian television movie directed by Carlo Carlei. The film is based on the book Padre Pio: Man of Hope by Renzo Allegri and it depicts real life events of Roman Catholic friar and later Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. The film was presented in two parts. The first part aired on 17 April 2000 while the second part aired on 19 April 2000.
Andrés Hibernón Real was a Spanish, Roman Catholic, professed religious from the Order of Friars Minor. Hibernón was born to nobles who fell poor, and he was robbed when he sought to provide funds for his parents. This occurrence prompted him to revise his approach to material and spiritual goods and so he became a lay brother to cultivate his spiritual nature.
The Compagnia dell'Immacolata Concezione is a religious confraternity founded in 1596 inside the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Alcamo, in the province of Trapani.
